What should have been
by WeevilOne
Summary: Tsunade finds an old letter in her drawer that had been written by Kakashi.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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Leaning back in her chair with a sigh, Tsunade though about how nice it would be to have Naruto and Jiraya back in the village once more. Then she thought about it again and realized what a folly this was. Naruto would no doubt go back to his old pranks, and the white-haired sannin would soon busy himself by spying on the bath houses. Shaking her head at this foolish thinking, Tsunade reached into the bottom drawer of her desk to pull out her trusty sake bottle.

However, Tsunade had not counted on the measures her assistant would take to rid her mentor of her bad habits. Apparently Shizune had removed the sake bottle from its usual hiding place. Frustrated and rather annoyed, Tsunade yanked the entire drawer out, perhaps in the hope that this would cause the missing sake bottle to appear. The only thing that appeared was a rather rumpled letter that had apparently been jammed in the drawer for some time. Picking it up off the floor, Tsunade looked at it. She didn't recognize it, so she came to the conclusion that it was something of the Sandaime's that she'd missed when cleaning out the desk.

She carefully pulled the somewhat tattered paper and began to read:

Dear Obito,

Fifteen years ago I promised you that I would protect Rin. It was your dying wish for me to keep her safe. Not only did you risk your life to bring her back, you saved my life and gave me your eye to complete my jutsu. You died so that the two of us could go on. You taught me the value of teamwork. You gave me your friendship, even though I didn't acknowledge it until it was too late. I always gave you a hard time for being late for everything, but I was the one that was too late to see the things that really mattered.

Twelve years ago I told Sensei that I'd help rebuild the village after he was gone. It wasn't exactly a lie, I suppose. I figured that following in his footsteps of sacrifice would help rebuild the village. That's why I joined ANBU. I never expected to survive any of my missions, but somehow I did. Each time I survived it was almost a disappointment. I think it was a combination of Sensei's determination, your Sharingan, and Rin's medical skills that managed to keep me alive during those bloodstained years.

Eight years ago I broke my promise to you. Rin died on a mission in Wind country while I was on a mission in Rain country. I wasn't there to protect her like I told you I would. I wasn't even there to hold her hand as she died. I thought I'd gotten used to death, but hers made me realize that I hadn't gotten used to death, I'd forgotten about life. I quit ANBU after that, but that didn't do anything for Rin. She was still gone. As were you. As was Sensei. I was the last of us. The one remainder of a team that could have been great.

Yesterday I passed my first genin team. They didn't really manage to pass the bell test, but they passed the test of teamwork. I think the reason that I passed them was because they reminded me of us. Sakura is very much like Rin, though a bit more high strung. Naruto is so much like you. He's just like a hyper puppy, eager to please and desperate for attention. Sasuke is a little too much like I was at that age than I'd like to admit, but he's the messed up, egotistical little prick that I was. Maybe things will go better this time around. Maybe they'll be able to do what we couldn't. They can be the great team that we should have been. Maybe this time things will go right.

- Kakashi

Closing her eyes, Tsunade wiped a tear from her eye. She took a deep breath before getting up and going to one of the ANBU stationed outside her door.

"Bring Hatake Kakashi here, will you? I have something to give him."

"Yes Hokage-sama," one of them replied before taking off to bring in the Copy-nin.

When Kakashi arrived three hours later (right on time for him), Tsunade handed him the slightly crushed letter.

"I believe this belongs to you," she told him quietly.

Kakashi took the letter and began reading it. Almost immediately he stopped reading and crumpled the letter in his gloved hand. Stuffing it in his pocket, he headed out the door with a bit more than his customary slouch.

"I'm sorry Kakashi. It wasn't your fault."

The masked ninja turned to look at her.

"Tell that to Obito."

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Note: I decided to take a short break from "Whatever Happened to Rin?" and write something from Kakashi's point of view. This started out as just the letter, but then I added the whole Tsunade thing to give it a little more substance. Just for clarification, since I didn't really explain this in the story, the Third picked up Kakashi's letter to Obito after he'd left it at the memorial stone.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated.


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